Madam Freda Akosua Prempeh, Minister of State, Office of President, says the Government’s current policy direction on mass entrepreneurship under the YouStart will lead to more sustainable jobs.
She said it offered a solution to the unemployment problem among the youth.
She said the consolidated approach and the major drive towards entrepreneurship under YouStart, would affect the business-minded youth among the current Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) trainees currently at the exit phase of the NABCO Scheme.
“Mr Speaker, within the 2022 budget, the government has consolidated its approach to employment hinged to entrepreneurship under the YouStart programme. You start will enable young people to seek and be supported both technically and financially, to start and set up their enterprise,” she told Parliament on Tuesday.
She said the status of the remaining trainees on the NABCO Scheme were tied to their elected career pathways; Permanent employment, Entrepreneurship and further learning.
Madam Prempeh made the remarks when she appeared before Parliament to answer a question by Mr Smauel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu.
The member asked, what was the government’s policy on the status of NABCO trainees after the expiration of their three-year engagement which lapsed at the end of October 2021, and plans for more sustainable job creation.
“Mr Speaker, the first batch of NABCO trainees’ three-year engagement lapsed at the end of October 2021. NABCO as a well-structured voluntary programme has provided work and learning experiences for those who voluntarily signed onto the Scheme in 2018. The work option is meant for trainees to put their foundational education background to use, build and acquire additional skills within the work environment,” she said.
The Minister of State at the Office of the President said the Scheme expected to see trainees considering various pathways during their stay on the Scheme leading to their exit.
She mentioned that NABCO trainees were broadly expected to pursue distinct career pathways which included gaining retention in current role or employment elsewhere; self-employment and entrepreneurship or career-focused further learning including vocational training.
“Mr Speaker, in line with the pathways set above, as an exit arrangement, some of the trainees were offered permanent employment by the lead agencies before the expiration of their three-year tenure.
Therefore, as part of the exit plan, the management of NABCO has continued its engagement with the lead Module Implementation Partners to complete their talent needs assessments and offer available vacancies to qualified and deserving trainees.
“These should lead to further employment into some of the institutions with the trainees namely, the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture among others,” she said.
According to the minister, NABCO would continue to collaborate with other agencies and programmes to provide entrepreneurship support to those trainees, among the 67,657 with viable and innovative business ideas to become entrepreneurs adding that collaboration was currently ongoing with the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme and the Ghana Enterprise Agency under the You Start.
She noted that all other trainees were being prepared through the transition into sustainable employment opportunities or their chosen career pathways outlined earlier.
NABCO is a flagship project initiated by the New Patriotic Party which started with the direct recruitment of 100,000 tertiary graduates, some of whom had been unemployed for nearly a decade.
It had the goal of improving public service delivery through the temporary job creation to unemployed graduates.
In terms of its structure, the 36-month programme had three key phases thus six months probation, 24-month work placement and six-month exit preparation.
All enrolled trainees applied through the seven module vehicles of the scheme: Education Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitise Ghana, Civic Ghana and Enterprise Ghana.
